Into the sun – A sunset and sunrise Lightroom preset pack

You always have a special place in your memory for your first. First of anything, really. The first relationship you had, the first time you went overseas, the first time you knew what you wanted to do in life.

…this article is none of those things.

This article isn’t even half as cool as the first time you tasted sushi in Japan… but hey, it is kind of cool that it’s my very first preset pack! 😁

Into the sun

Lightroom preset pack

‘Into the sun’ is a Lightroom preset pack made for sunsets and sunrises. Conditions where high dynamic range is assumed. To explain it in a non-jargony way, usually when you take a photo of the sun on the horizon, you’ll notice the sun is super bright, and everything else is kind of… not. But it is colourful and beautiful. Those shots is what this pack is for.

I’m really excited to share it with you. In a way, an opportunity to impart some of the editing knowledge I have in a format you can understand if you use Lightroom (and you should be using Lightroom. Or Capture One).

Yes, people use presets to speed up their workflow and yada yada, but when I first got into editing, I bought a ton of presets from the photographers I loved just so that I could see into their process. How they colour, how they tone, why they have certain settings the way they do, why they grade the way they grade. That to me is more interesting.

Of course, once you’ve figured that out, presets are indeed great for speeding up your workflow.

This preset pack was made to get you 80% to completion on an image. It was made so that you just whack it on, fiddle around with the white balance and exposure settings, maybe add some spot adjustments or grad filters, and spend your saved time down at the pub with a drink or two.

I’ve tested this set with over 100 different images. It’s taken weeks of my time and I’ve tried really hard to make sure there’s at least one preset for every image you want to edit. Initially, I had a plan to release just 5 in a pack, and save the other 5 for a pack later on, but I decided against that.

Instead, what you’ll get in this pack is 10 unique presets and 10 components. All in one pack. I want to give you as much value as I can in a single package, so if you do end up buying this pack, please read the rest of the article for some guidance on them.

How to install Lightroom presets

How the presets work

The 10 presets are made from a single preset called ‘Boilerplate’. This is where it all starts. From there, all the values are changed depending on the look it’s supposed to go for.

‘Boilerplate’

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‘Boosted Orange’, ‘Burnt Orange’ and ‘Gentle Orange’ are all mono-tone plays on trying to bring out the best colour you typically have during a sunset or sunrise.

‘Boosted Orange’

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‘Burnt Orange’

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‘Gentle Orange’

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‘Purple/orange’, ‘Purple/pink’ and ‘Blue/orange’ are duo-tone-style presets that introduce more tonal contrast and visual interest to a scene.

‘Purple/Orange’

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‘Purple/Pink’

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‘Blue/Orange’

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‘Dreamy’, ‘Filmic light’ and ‘Goldie’ are specialist presets that are a bit different. Instead of typically going for a colour to be inspired by, they’re more based on mood. They’re interesting. Play around with them, they’re fun.

‘Dreamy’

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‘Filmic light’

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‘Goldie’

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Component parts

Components are ‘add-on’s to the presets. You can add these on at any stage and to any preset and they’ll change those parts specifically. It’s assumed that basic tonal adjustments (exposure, highlights, shadows etc) is something you can cover yourself, so I’ve given you the more interesting things like my default colour palettes, default split tone values, my favourite tone curve settings, and my typical vignette settings.

Want a shoutout?

I’ll be shouting out images I really love that have been edited with my preset pack! All you have to do is share your images with #patkaypresets and hopefully I choose yours!